Born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Ballantyne studied at Royal London Hospital before working as a staff nurse and health service manager in London. She moved to the Scottish Borders in 1990 and established a manufacturing business there with her husband. After graduating with an honours degree from Heriot-Watt University, she managed an acute medicine department in Edinburgh and took a position at a charity supporting people struggling with drugs and alcohol.
Elected to Scottish Borders Council in 2012, Ballantyne took a seat in the Scottish Parliament in 2017 on the Scottish Conservative regional list. She was a candidate in the February 2020 leadership election but lost to Jackson Carlaw. She resigned from the party in November 2020 in protest at its support for coronavirus lockdown measures. After sitting as an independent, she joined Reform UK in January 2021 and was appointed as Leader of Reform UK Scotland. She lost her seat in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election and quit as the leader of Reform UK in Scotland in February 2022.
Early life and career
Ballantyne was born in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester. She studied nursing at Royal London Hospital in East London, beginning her career working as a staff nurse in an intensive care unit before progressing into a finance and management position at South West Thames Regional Health Authority.[3]
Ballantyne moved to the Scottish Borders in 1990 to establish a manufacturing business with her husband in Walkerburn. During this period, she continued to work as a nurse within social care, while also completing an Honours degree as a mature student at Heriot-Watt University in Galashiels. After graduation, she returned to health service management in 2000, managing an acute medicine department in Edinburgh.[3]
Ballantyne and her husband sold their house and became tenants to enable her to work closer to home. Ballantyne took a position in 2005 as head of an independent local charity providing specialist drug and alcohol support to children, families and offenders.[3]
Ballantyne led the Conservative group into the 2017 Scottish Borders Council election. The Conservatives gained five seats at the election and subsequently entered into a coalition with the independent group to take control of the council from the incumbent SNP, Liberal Democrat and independent administration.[6]
On 3 May 2018, Ballantyne was promoted to Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Social Security.[4] She defended the UK government's two child cap on tax credits in October of that year, claiming it had been fairer to working people having to make decisions about the number of children to have.[10] Her comments sparked heated debate and she accused the SNP of politicising the cap.[11][12] During her tenure as Shadow Social Security Secretary, she also said there was "no such thing as a bedroom tax", disagreeing that restricting benefits was equivalent to a tax,[13] and claimed there was no hard evidence as to why the use of foodbanks had increased.[12]
Criticising the SNP's record on healthcare within a speech in the Scottish Parliament, Ballantyne said she would be "quite happy" if the Scottish Government had no role in running the National Health Service in Scotland.[14]
Ballantyne campaigned to change the law to allow assisted dying for consenting terminally ill people in her role as chair of the end of life choices working group, progressing on previous campaign work by Margo MacDonald.[15]
On 24 November 2020, Ballantyne announced she would leave the Scottish Conservatives to sit as an independent MSP, citing differences on policies and principles with the party and its new leader Douglas Ross, especially with regards to the party's support for coronavirus lockdown measures; she said that she and the party were no longer "a good fit".[22] Her resignation and subsequent criticisms of lockdowns in Scotland won her support from former MSP and MEP Brian Monteith.[23]
Ballantyne joined Reform UK in January 2021 and was appointed as Leader of Reform UK Scotland. She said the party would advocate low taxes, entrepreneurship and policies reflecting personal choice and local communities. Chairman Richard Tice added the party would stand at the 2021 Scottish Parliament election on a platform of devolving powers to local government.[24] In February, she reiterated her criticisms of lockdowns and wrote a column for The Scotsman arguing the damage to the mental health of children and young people had been disproportionate to the benefits of controlling coronavirus.[25]
In February 2022 she quit her position as the leader of Reform UK in Scotland and announced she was quitting her role in politics to focus on a multimillion-pound restoration of The Haining country house.[1][2]
Personal life
The eldest of four siblings, Ballantyne has been married to her husband Neil since December 1983 and together they have six children. Neil is a former officer in the King's Own Scottish Borderers.[3] She is managing trustee of The Haining,[27] a patron of a food bank in Penicuik[28] and a council member of Friends at the End.[29]
^Normally, regional MSPs do not have individual predecessors and successors. However, Hamilton retired her seat during a sitting parliament so was succeeded by Ballantyne.
